Six weeks gone just like that!! I have 4 days left in
the Brazilian CTM and then I hit the streets of Curitiba to speak straight
Portuguese for the next 20 months! CRAZY!! So where did I leave off
last week?? No sei. . Most the week will probably be blurred
together. 
Saturday I remember having the funniest mock lesson with our
investigator Luna. We were supposed to talk about Tithing, but disaster
after disaster kept on happening! First, we had our lesson outside where
planes and helicopters frequently flew by. Next, the day was extremely
windy so Luna´s hair was literally everywhere. Finally, the infamous
strip club bus (giant bus with dancers and loud music that is sponsored by
Brazilian politicians for support), drove by us twice. Welcome to Brazil,
right!? Some time later, we had prosyliting on the streets of Sao Paulo
where we handed out 9 books of mormon and took a selfie with a bunch of
students (we also taught). On sunday, I played for sacrament meeting,
which was a miracle since I haven~t practiced in 1 month. Sunday we also had a
9/11 recognition night (created by our district), where we gathered all
the americans in the ctm, brought a 6 ft american flag to the auditorium, and
sang the national anthem. Monday, it was Justus´s birthday...so shout out
to him for being the best example a younger brother could dream of... you ROCK
(especially in Brazil, everyone seems to know you). On tuesday, we
listened to Elder Hollands devotional broadcast...here~s some things I got from
it:
-your mission is as real as you´ll ever get to life
-I don´t want to lose any sheep (investigators), but I
cannot concieve of losing the shepherd (missionaries)
-You have never done anything so right in your life
-The convert I ask for is you
-we call it missionary work for a reason...it´s not easy
because it was never easy for Christ
-The road to salvation leads through the garden of
Gethsemane.
-FOLLOW CHRIST and help your investigators do the same
On wednesday, my companieros and I had the Worst lesson in
the world. We went in to teach an investigator, but everyone blanked on Portuguese, so we just taught it in broken english. We forgot to ask if
we could enter her house and also forgot to start with a prayer. After
hearing that she was probably going through a divorce with her husband and seeing
that she was very depressed, my companions jumped into the lesson of
tithing!! I decided to share a scripture, but I don´t think the one I shared
was right because it was in Malachi 3 and said something like `Have ye robbed
God, yet ye have robbed me...Ye are cursed with a curse`!! Yeah, then we
challenged her to start paying tithing today....
So que nao (just kidding)!!! We did give the lesson,
but it was a purposely bad lesson for a new group of missionaries to see what we
did wrong (which was pretty much everything). We proceeded to re-do the
lesson, but the right way!!
IT was so hard not to laugh during it
though!! Speaking of new missionaries, guess who joined me at the
CTM.....Elder Micheal Baldwin from our old ward Braun Heights!!! He´s
already district leader like me and dwarfs pretty much everyone. I hope Brazilians don´t think he´s the Brute Squad when he comes to talk about the
gospel with them. (get the reference?) Princess bride maybe??? I´d like to
just say that... I think I am more fluent in portuguese than he was at spanish
now...but that´s just what Brazil does to you. Also, the brazilian CTM helps
you gain weight.. I´ve gained 11 pounds since being here,but hopefully it´s
muscle. We did pushup pyramids the other day (you start at one than
companion does one, then two...etc until you can~´t do more...then you start
going down by one), and I got a huge work out (111 push-ups does that to you).
Mom and dad, don~´t worry about me sleep walking anymore...I haven´t done
that. What I have done is wake up at 12 am, turn on the lights, yell for
everyone to get up, and start getting dressed, because I thought we slept
in...but it´s okay. 
Since I have no more time, I´ll just leave a short testimony
with you. I know that God lives and loves all his children on the
earth. He will help you, and lift you up so you cant even feel the
tribulations and trials that way you down. Have faith. Have
joy. Have hope in the Savior of the world Jesus Christ, for through him
anything is possible in his sacred name amen.
Love yall
Elder Johnson
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